Ghazala Javed, popular Pakistani singer, murdered

Pakistan’s popular female singer Ghazala Javed was shot dead along with her father in the north-western city of Peshawar.

Pakistan’s popular female singer Ghazala Javed has been shot dead along with her father in the north-western city of Peshawar.

Javed, who performed in her native Pashto tongue and enjoyed success in Pakistan and Afghanistan and among other Pashto communities across the Middle East, fled her home in Pakistan’s Swat valley three years ago during an army crackdown on Taliban militants in the area. She had received death threats ordering her to stop singing whilst the Taliban held control over the region, the BBC reported.

The murders, which took place late Monday, may have been connected to a family dispute. Javed’s sister says gunmen forced their way into the singer’s house and killed Javed and her father, according to the BBC. But a police official – who said that Taliban involvement appeared unlikely at this point – told CNN that Javed was driving home from a beauty salon with her father when armed men astride a motorcycle sprayed the car with bullets.

According to the Times of India, Javed’s younger sister Farhat Bibi was also in the vehicle at the time, but escaped unhurt. The assailants fled the scene immediately after the shooting.

According to the Daily Mail, police have indicated that Javed’s ex-husband – from whom she requested a divorce after discovering that he had at least one other wife – is among the suspects. The move, an unusual one in Pakistan’s male-dominated society, made headlines across the country.

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